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Directed by Daniel Stamm. Starring Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, Iris Bahr, Louis Herthum. Horror, USA, 87 mins, cert 15.

Out To Own On DVD/Blu-ray & EST on the 27th December 2010.

The latest of the "first person" horror movies, in which the camera is part of the action and the story, THE LAST EXORCISM concerns Deep South preacher Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian) who is asked to help a young woman called Nell (Ashlyn Bell) living on a remote farm in Louisiana whose apparent possession forces her to slaughter the cattle in the middle of the night. However, Marcus is a phoney: he's lost his faith but thus far has not had the courage to stand up and walk away from it. And in the belief that demonic possession is an entirely psychological condition, he only needs to convince the sufferer that the demons have been vanquished. So he uses wires, special props, sound effects and sleight of hand to simulate what the victim will believe is an exorcism. Tiring of the lie, he decides to undertake one final case, and hires a small camera crew to accompany him, to document his charades and expose the "truth" about exorcism and possession.

But is Nell's strange behaviour merely the result of her fundamentalist Christian upbringing? When it transpires that Nell is pregnant, it's suggested she was raped by the Devil, but might the truth be much closer to home? Yet as events unfold, perhaps Nell's problems are not psychological, not a result of incest or rape, but an entirely genuine possession...

The mock documentary and "found footage" styles have surely run their course now; ever since THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT back in 1999 popularised it. It's cheap, so a boon to low-budget filmmakers; the verité format has a natural air of authenticity, and shaky photography can disguise otherwise unconvincing effects work. But the technique's use sometimes suggests that the camera operators care more about getting the best footage than about staying alive, and most normal people would have dropped the camera and fled rather than constantly adjusting focus and framing on the advancing zombies, monsters or evil spirits. In addition, the film has to abide by the rules and there are edits in THE LAST EXORCISM which clearly indicate the presence of a second camera.

More to the point, if it was "found footage" there's no explanation as to who found it, edited it together and put music (albeit not very much) onto it, or why. Nevertheless, for its first two thirds or so, THE LAST EXORCISM is actually a pretty good movie: creepy, convincing, nicely amusing as Cotton Marcus takes us through the tricks of his shabby trade, and well performed. And much of it is quite pleasingly low-key, which is surprising given that Eli Roth is one of the producers - don't expect any HOSTEL-type bloodbaths. But towards the end, it does lose its grip. That's a shame and it rather undoes a lot of the good work from earlier in the film. It's still effective and worth watching, particularly its first hour but unfortunately it's not an overall success.

Richard Street.

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